A Day in June
by Wynterstale
Summary: All Teddy wanted was to make his wife happy. But they had to realize that a large family wasn't something that was in store for every Weasley.


Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling yadda yadda.

More yadda yadda: This was written for the Mood Ring Competition. The colour I picked was green, which stands for "fertility". Five characters I got from a random list were Ginny Weasley, Louis Weasley, Lucy Weasley, Teddy Lupin and Gregorovitch. At least one of them had to be a central character in the story. I did manage to mention all of them though... Not like that was very difficult, considering the abundance of Weasley family members on my list. :D

Oh, I think I should remind everybody Teddy is only very distantly related to the Weasleys. I just thought he would probably be "adopted" into the family after his parents' death.

A THANK YOU goes out to **your broken things** who was my beta for this story.

**A Day in June**

June 1, 2031

Teddy Lupin wouldn't have been able to tell you exactly how many christenings he had attended in the last ten years, even if you had asked him at wand point. Given that he had always been very close to the ever-growing Weasley clan and all of his friends from Hogwarts had already begun to start their own families long ago, it might as well have been over a hundred. Okay, even he had to admit that that was heavily exaggerated; but that's what it felt like, anyway.

It wasn't that Teddy wasn't happy for all of the proud parents, or even that he didn't like children. True, he never went all gooey-eyed when he saw a baby, and whenever one of his friends told him stories about nappy changes at 3 am and raging four-year-olds he didn't exactly envy them. But in general he didn't mind babies and he even thought that kids were pretty cool once they reached an age where they could walk, talk, and use a toilet. What he did mind, though, was the seemingly endless stream of baby showers, christenings and first birthday parties. And second birthday parties. Tiny, rosy babies popping up all over the place and overly eager parents who insisted on making a big fuss when clearly, the guest of honour wouldn't even be able to remember all of it three weeks from now.

He took a deep breath and covertly glanced down at his watch while he tried to listen to the wizarding official in charge of the ceremony drone on and on. The latest Weasley christening took place in the Burrow's large backyard, as usual. What was more than unusual, though, was the presence of no less than three Malfoys amidst a sea of redheads. The sight of Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy glowering at each other in the front while their wives Hermione and Astoria tried to keep neutral expressions would have been enough to set him off laughing under different circumstances. The new parents, Scorpius and Rose Malfoy, didn't seem to notice any of their parents' distress, though. Rose held their little daughter in her arms and Scorpius was gazing down at them both reverently. Teddy didn't think even they were really listening to the official standing next to them.

He looked over at the person who had involuntarily made him dislike these events so much. His wife was sitting next to him in a lovely green off the shoulder summer dress, her strawberry blonde hair swept up into a loose chignon. She seemed to be doing okay, but he knew he couldn't take much stock in what she looked like. Over the last few years, she had perfected a mask of fake happiness that fooled even him from time to time. Realizing he was looking at her, she turned around and returned his gaze. Her dark brown eyes usually looked… bereft, at these events; he couldn't find a better word to describe it. But whenever their eyes met, hers would light up and he was sure his were doing the same. It was an immense comfort to him that despite the fact that he didn't seem to be able to give her the one thing she wanted the most, he could still give her a certain amount of happiness. It gave him hope that maybe one day, just this would be enough.

They were still gazing at each other when the official announced the baby girl's name to be _Tucana Hermione Malfoy_. Teddy and his wife both snorted when they heard the middle name. They hadn't been told about that. As if the first name wasn't horrid enough already. A look at the front told him that maybe their parents hadn't been told either. Draco and Ron looked about ready to fall over and while his aunt Hermione was obviously happy to be honoured in such a way, she also seemed shocked to hear her own name directly attached to "Malfoy".

Four hours later he and his wife were back in their comfortable little cottage situated in a quaint northern Welsh seaside town. They had moved here a few months ago, deciding that while they enjoyed the large family gatherings they regularly attended, they also wanted to have more time to themselves and a place to find peace when things got too hectic.

She was currently in her office, rifling through some papers she had stacked on her desk. Teddy was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Are you okay?"

"Just looking for the newest part of this draft I was working on. I want to flesh it out some more before I meet with my editor next week," she mumbled without turning around.

He sighed, "You know what I mean."

He could see her bare shoulders stiffening momentarily before she resumed looking through various papers. "It's fine."

He let his head drop against doorframe with a small _thud_. She always said she was fine. He had known her all her life and he had never heard her say she wasn't. She had been the only child he had never known to weep. Ever.

"Lucy…."

oOo

"_Sssh," Teddy managed to gasp out between laughter. He was lying in the sand on the beach just outside Shell Cottage. His girlfriend Victoire was draped over his chest and she was giggling uncontrollably about a story he had just told her from his healer training. One of the patients at the hospital had somehow managed to turn his nose into a horn and it had taken even the most skilled healer they had three hours to remedy the spell. By that time, another patient who had been in an accident that had left her singing opera style for the past two weeks had been attracted by the incessant tooting and joined in with a rendition of an old Weird Sisters song._

"_I'm sorry," Victoire whispered and buried her face against his chest. His laughter died down but the smile on his face remained. She was about to embark on her last year at Hogwarts in just three days and even though he was sad to let her go again, he was also ecstatic, because it would also be her last year at school. He had graduated two years ago, shortly after they had started going out and they had only been able to spend school holidays and the odd Hogsmeade weekend in each other's company since then. His apprenticeship at St. Mungo's usually kept him fairly busy but he had been able to leave early that day and had taken the chance to visit her at her parents' house. And even though Bill and Fleur Weasley were like family to him, he didn't fancy any of them hearing their loud laughter and walking in on them like this. They had picked a spot at the beach that wasn't too far away from the house but still enough to be out of sight._

_He was absentmindedly stroking his girlfriend's back and staring up at the slowly darkening sky when he heard someone scream and then a loud screech._

"_Oh, no," Victoire grumbled, sitting up. "What is my stupid brother up to now?"_

_As if on cue Louis Weasley came dashing around the relatively small sand dune that was currently blocking them from Shell Cottage. Victoire's younger brother was 10, had bright blonde hair with a reddish tint to it, freckles and was the only known male part-Veela in history. Teddy knew that his parents were a bit unnerved by the fact that nobody could tell them what exactly that meant for their son but at least at this point in time Teddy thought Louis was just like any Weasley boy his age – boisterous, chaotic and always in some kind of trouble._

_Talking of trouble, Teddy thought, when just seconds after Louis, another little Weasley arrived. Lucy Weasley was spending the weekend at her uncle and aunt's house and it seemed Louis had yet again managed to pull a prank on the always unsuspecting 12-year-old. How she could still trust her cousin blindly even though the little devil practically had "trouble" written all over his forehead was beyond Teddy. But that was how Lucy was. She was always so trusting and…a real klutz. While her blind confidence in others was no doubt responsible for the fact that her hair was currently a bright shade of blue, her clumsiness was what made her trip over her own feet and fall head first down the dune. She had probably thought she could catch Louis more easily if she took a short cut and went across instead of around. Teddy really wished she had gone around as he and his girlfriend had to watch her topple down the slope and land awkwardly on her left shoulder before they could reach her._

"_Lulu!" Victoire called out._

"_Is she alright?" Louis yelled running back to them with a guilty look on his face._

_Teddy kneeled down next to the girl and carefully turned her over. Sand was sticking to her cheeks and hair and her face was contorted in pain._

"_Where does it hurt?" he asked, his healer training kicking in._

"_It's okay. I just need to breathe a bit," she gritted out, her eyes tightly shut._

_Teddy looked at her incredulously. The way she held her left arm told him that it definitely wasn't okay. She had probably dislocated her shoulder and here she was scrunching up her face and pretending that everything would be just dandy once she took a deep breath._

"_Lulu, it's clearly not alright," Victoire snapped, sounding annoyed. She had inherited her mother's short temper._

_Lucy opened her eyes and looked up at them with what Teddy assumed was defiance._

"_I'm fine. I fall all the time."_

"_You can say that again," Louis mumbled, probably repeating something he had heard his parents or older siblings say before._

_Teddy sighed when he realized that he had left his wand in the house with his jacket._

"_Okay, off we go," he declared and carefully lifted his new patient up in his arms._

"_Let me down!" she protested but Teddy decided to simply ignore her pitiful struggles to free herself. She was 12, so she was probably embarrassed by what had happened. From his experience 12-year-old girls were easily embarrassed by anything and nothing. But now wasn't the time for childish tantrums, so he simply looked straight ahead while he carried her back to the cottage where he quickly mended her injury – even though she still insisted it had been nothing even ten years later._

oOo

"I really need to get some more work done this evening…" she trailed off and turned around to face him. She gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Charles will have my head if I don't up my productivity."

He knew that her agent wasn't the reason she wanted to work on her newest novel right now. She probably wouldn't even get anything done. He knew she simply wanted to be alone for a bit, so he reluctantly left and went into their bedroom, closing the door behind him.

They had been married for four years now, but she had been talking about children since their first week together. He had often told her that any sane guy would have been over the hills and far away in a flash if their girlfriend talked about marriage and children so soon. But Teddy had been crazy enough about Lucy by then to not only indulge her by listening but he had even started to think about marriage himself. No children though, mind you. That hadn't been something he wanted back then. Even now he wasn't sure if he would have wanted any if it wasn't for Lucy. But she had always loved children. Even when she herself had been a child she had constantly fussed over her younger cousins. Lucy was the most nurturing, trusting, loyal person he knew. It was only befitting that his wife had been a Hufflepuff in school – one of only four Weasleys to not be sorted into Gryffindor, next to Hugo, Roxanne and Lily who had been Ravenclaws. She had also been a Prefect and the first Head Girl to come out of Hufflepuff in over a century. His Lucy had always excelled. He thought it was a shame that he had never actually seen her interact with other students at school. He was seven years her senior, so he had just graduated from Hogwarts when she went for her first year. But he had usually seen her at Weasley family gatherings. Since his godfather was Harry Potter who had practically been an adoptive son to Arthur and Molly Weasley even before he had married their daughter Ginny, he was also considered part of the family. The fact that his father and mother had died fighting alongside all of the older Weasleys and Potters during the war also ensured that he had a huge, mostly red-headed surrogate family in them.

And whenever he had seen her at these gatherings, she had happily told him about whatever had been going on at Hogwarts.

oOo

_Teddy took a sip of his lager as he watched Victoire prance around the Burrow's backyard in high heels and a form-fitting dress, her newly acquired boyfriend following her around like a crup. They were whispering to each other between conversations with some of the many guests assembled at the Burrow today. He knew he shouldn't feel so bitter about it since he had been the one to end their relationship in the first place, but it still stung. Their relationship had crashed about two years ago. There hadn't been any drama surrounding the break up. It had been simple – Victoire thought that after four years together they should take the next step. It was fairly normal in the Wizarding World to get married in your early twenties or sometimes even straight out of Hogwarts, if the circumstances were right. He, however, hadn't wanted to get married at 20 and so it had ended. Sure, there had been tears on her part and many a drunken night spent at the Hogs Head on his, but it could have been a lot worse, considering that they knew they were going to have to see each other on a fairly regular basis. But two years she wasn't crying anymore, he didn't miss her anymore and even Bill and Fleur had forgiven him long ago for breaking their princess' heart. But now she was here with that blasted Timothy Wood, son of famous Quidditch Keeper Oliver Wood, and they kept looking at each other with that disgustingly dreamy expression on their stupid happy faces. For a second, after seeing them come through the Burrow's back door together, he had felt a surge of panic, thinking that he had made a mistake and never should have let her go. Two hours, four lagers and lots of small talk with various family members later, though, he had sorted his feelings out and knew what was wrong with him: she was now happy with someone else and he was … well, he was happy but he was quite alone._

_His grandmother had died three years ago and he was now living in his own flat in Hogsmeade. He had inherited his grandparents' house upon Andromeda's death but he couldn't bring himself to live there on his own. He enjoyed his single life, he guessed. He spent most of his time these days at St. Mungo's anyway, where he worked as a healer, and other than that he met with his friends or spent quiet evenings alone at home. He could do what he wanted whenever he wanted and it was nice. But it wasn't always. Even though he was part of a massive family, he often felt alone. They all had siblings, parents, partners, children… He'd had his grandmother. And Harry, Ginny and their children of course, but it wasn't the same as having a real family. He sometimes found himself wishing for someone who was his. At 22 he suddenly found himself not wanting to get married but wanting to have a girlfriend he could spend his days and nights with. How ironic was it that he had dumped Victoire because she had wanted to spend her life with him?_

"_Prrrrefect!" a happy voice next to him declared and he turned towards its source, looking down at Lucy who was waving a red and gold badge in his face. She hadn't been here when he'd arrived and he hadn't noticed her and her family joining the party in honour of something or other; he couldn't keep track anymore. It seemed the older Molly got, the more reasons to celebrate she came up with._

_He smiled at her and patted her shoulder with his free hand, holding his larger in the other. She frowned up at him but his smile stayed in place._

"_Congratulations, Little One." _

_Her frown deepened. "You're barely half a head taller than me."_

_He shrugged. She was right; she was quite tall for a girl but that didn't mean she wasn't his Little One anymore. "That makes you half a head shorter than me, so I'll continue calling you Little One until you get your next freakish growth spurt. So, how many Weasley prefects is that now?"_

"_Five," she replied, obviously choosing to ignore his teasing._

"_Going to try out for Quidditch this year?" he asked, referring to another Weasley family tradition._

_He wasn't surprised when she pulled a face._

"_I'll be busy enough watching out for the younger students. Besides, I think the Hufflepuff team is better off without me. I'd probably get into an accident even before I went on a broom."_

_He had to agree with her. Her clumsiness hadn't improved much since her early childhood days._

"_Plus, Ian Wood is the new Captain, Timothy tells me. He'll probably whip the new team into shape in no time. I'd never stand a chance during try outs, even if I did manage to get on a broom."_

_His laughter died down instantly. Those stupid Wood brothers._

"_Ian Wood, huh?"_

"_Yes."_

_Something about her expression was off but before he could ask her what was going on, a loud whooshing sound could be heard and she was knocked to the ground by what looked like a bludger made out of a softball._

"_Ooops!"_

"_LOUIS!" she yelled, no doubt trying to get up to catch her younger cousin who was currently making a hasty retreat into the Burrow's kitchen._

oOo

He lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, slowly shaking his head as he thought about Louis. Bill and Fleur's youngest child was two years younger than Lucy and had always enjoyed poking fun at her. Even on their wedding day Louis had pulled a prank on the unsuspecting bride, this time turning her skin bright blue just two hours before the ceremony was about to start. He had assured her that the effect of the potion he had slipped her would wear off in time for the wedding to start but that hadn't stopped an angry Audrey from chasing Louis all over the Burrow for "ruining her little girl's day". The day hadn't been ruined, of course, and Teddy couldn't have cared less if her skin had stayed blue for the entire day. He would simply have changed his hair into the same colour, as opposed to the rather boring brown he wore these days whenever he left the house. He had kept his hair mostly turquoise during his Hogwarts days, sometimes even turning his eyes red or changing his appearance altogether on the days he felt more daring. Headmistress McGonagall, however, had eventually asked him not to do that anymore, as it was too confusing for most of the student body and even some of the teachers whenever he did it. Being a Metamorphmagus really did have its perks and he had enjoyed them to the fullest until his early twenties. Ever since then, however, he had taken to keeping his hair brown, his eyes their original blue colour and he only altered his facial structure to entertain others. He had felt he was getting too old for turquoise hair. Lucy, however, had disagreed. He still remembered the first time she had seen him without his brightly coloured hair very clearly, because it had marked the beginning of something new developing between them. At least for him it had. What he hadn't known at the time was that for Lucy it had already started to happen a long time ago.

oOo

"_I'm seventeen."_

"_I know. I sent you a present, remember?" Teddy teased the girl sitting next to him on the porch of his parents' home. He had been invited to dinner, along with Harry, Ginny and their children who, like Lucy, were home for Easter break. He had left the others inside the living room where they played Enchanted Charades in search of some fresh air. Lucy had joined him shortly after, which didn't surprise him. She usually seemed to seek out his company whenever he was around. Not that he could blame her. Especially not on a night like this where her loving, but ultimately stiff father made a fool of himself as he usually did during game nights. Besides, he always enjoyed her company. She made him laugh and feel oddly relaxed._

_He knew she was looking at him. He could see it out of the corners of his eyes, but he didn't know why she did it. No matter, though; she usually told him whatever was on her mind._

"_I don't like your hair brown."_

_Ah, so that was it. He gave her a shrug and turned to face her. "Can't blame a Metamorphmagus for trying something new every once in a while."_

_She frowned. "It's not you."_

_He raised an eyebrow and quickly changes his hair into a multitude of colours, from yellow to red to green, finally settling on pink._

"_All of it is me. That's what being a Metamorphmagus is about."_

"_You sound terribly wise, considering you've never met any other Metamortphmagi."_

_She surprised him by lifting one of her hands and tentatively touching his still pink hair._

"_I'm not sure pink is your colour. I like it best when it's turquoise."_

_She was still busy stroking his hair and staring at the top of his head, so he was free to gaze at her intently, trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on here. In all of his 24 years he hadn't learned how to understand girls and he was sure he never would. They seemed to get more confusing the older they got and Lucy proved to be a particularly perplexing example. There had been a moment like this during the last Christmas Break as well. They had been at the Burrow, of course, and the two of them had been sitting in a corner of the comfortable living room, talking. Then she had suddenly gone very quiet and looked at him with much the same expression she had on her face right now. He hadn't thought about it much since then but now she was doing it again and he…. And suddenly he knew why she kept looking at him like that. Why she had told him she was seventeen now. Why she always sought him out and why the way he chose to wear his hair suddenly mattered so much. He would never till the day he died figure out how he knew, but he did and he felt panic rise in his chest._

_He suddenly jerked away from her and was sure his hair turned brown again, but he didn't really pay much attention to that._

_She was looking at him with surprise on her face and what looked like a hint of fear. She knew what he had just realized._

"_What's up?" If she tried to sound casual, she failed miserably at it._

"_I'm 24," Teddy said simply._

_Now he could see sadness in her brown eyes._

"_I don't know what you mean."_

"_I think you do."_

_Then, seemingly out of nowhere she said, "Ian Wood has been asking me out for months now. I've been telling him no."_

_He took a deep breath. "You really shouldn't."_

_He was about to get up and tell her he was leaving and that they would see each other during the summer at her graduation party when she suddenly took a hold of his shirt and pulled him to her. The next thing he knew her mouth was pressed against his and he forgot how to breathe for a moment. Their kiss was almost clumsy, given that he was in too much shock to reciprocate and she was clearly inexperienced. He simply stayed still for a few more seconds and when he felt himself almost closing his eyes and leaning in to her, he hastily pulled back, pushing her hands down._

"_This..." he said in a low voice, getting up and looking down at her, "This isn't going to happen again. We're not… We're… This isn't happening again."_

_With that he left without saying goodbye and locked himself in his small flat. Percy and Harry would probably hunt him down and kill him soon enough for breaking Lucy's heart._

_But when nothing had happened even two weeks later, he was beginning to wonder. No word from Percy and only a concerned owl from Harry and Ginny, asking if he had been sick and or if there had been an emergency at the hospital that had caused him to leave so suddenly. Had she not told her mother or her older sister Molly? He felt like an asshole for walking out on her like that but he hadn't known what else to do. He usually knew how to handle himself around women, but this was about little Lucy. He wasn't even sure she qualified as a "woman" yet and if she did he really thought someone ought to have notified him first._

_Be that as it may, he didn't think he should wait until her graduation party in July to see her again and talk to her. His actions had already belied his supposed Gryffindor bravery enough. So he took it as a sign when the next Hogwarts weekend rolled around and he actually had Saturday off. That was a first in months and he figured it must mean some higher power wanted him to go into the village today and look for her. Or maybe it was just him wanting to feel like he had some form of divine backup if things went down the drain again._

_That was how he found himself next to Zonkos, in front of Gladrags Wizardwear that afternoon. The little village was bustling with students and he kept bumping into people he knew, which didn't make his search any easier since none of them had seen Lucy but all of them wanted to chat. He had already looked for her in the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes, her favourite shop, and was thinking about where to look next when his problem simply solved itself. Zonkos' front door opened and out came a familiar strawberry blonde. He felt an immense sense of relief when he saw her and was about to walk over when he realized that she wasn't alone. She was closely followed by a tall boy with dirty blonde hair whom he recognized as Ian Wood, younger brother of Timothy Wood who was still with Victoire._

_She stopped talking to Ian when she saw Teddy standing just a few metres away. She looked unsure for a second but quickly schooled her face into a friendly mask. At least, that's what he thought the grimace was supposed to be. Either that or she had eaten too many Acid Pops._

"_Teddy, I didn't expect to see you here," she said as she and Ian – her date? – walked over to him._

"_Yeah, well, I don't have to be at the hospital today so I thought I might as well enjoy a day out in the village."_

"_Too bad there are so many of us kids around today," she said almost bitterly before apparently remembering her manners._

"_Do you remember Ian? Ian, I'm sure you still know who Teddy is."_

_Ian was obviously oblivious of the tension hanging in the air and was giving Teddy a lopsided grin. "Hello. I didn't recognize you without the turquoise hair."_

"_Hey," was all Teddy had to say in return, his eyes fixed on where Lucy was holding onto Ian's upper arm. Why was she doing that? He really wanted to tell her to stop doing that. She was his little Lucy; she wasn't supposed to hang onto some Quidditch playing idiot._

"_We're on a date," Lucy said. As if that much wasn't clear already._

"_I see that. Can I talk to you for a moment?"_

_She mumbled out "I don't think so," just as Ian shrugged and said,_

"_I'll just wait here."_

_Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all._

"_I can't. He wanted to show me his new wand!" she rambled with a certain note of panic in her voice. Teddy felt his temper rise. He wanted to show her his new wand? What the hell was that supposed to mean now?_

"_It's a Gregorovitch. Handed down in my family until it found another wizard…" Ian said by way of explanation, looking slightly put out._

"_That's lovely," Teddy forced out, "but could you maybe wait while I talk to her? Or better yet, she'll meet you back at the castle."_

_With that he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her away in the direction of the Shrieking Shack, leaving an undoubtedly perplexed Quidditch captain in their wake._

"_What is wrong with you?" she asked, ripping her arm free once they were off the main road and less likely to cause a scene._

"_What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?"_

_She faltered, "I think you already humiliated me enough, you didn't have to go and interrupt my first date."_

_Her first date. Great. He felt an odd mix of guilt and relief at having dragged her away from that particular occasion._

"_I'm sorry. I didn't know how to react, back then. I didn't even know you liked me."_

_She crossed her arms in front of her and averted her gaze._

"_I thought maybe you liked me back. You always seemed to enjoy my company and that one time at Christmas you said I was "quite beautiful". I guess I read it all wrong."_

"_I do think you are beautiful and I really do enjoy your company. More than anybody else's," he said without thinking and realized it was true. But then she looked up again with that hopeful look in her eyes and he felt the need to elaborate._

"_That doesn't mean I like you though." Did it? He couldn't. She was seventeen and he had known her all her life. He had known Victoire all her life and look where that had gotten him with her in the end: nowhere._

"_So you don't like me," she stated, looking deflated. He wouldn't have thought it possible but he felt even worse now. Today was supposed to have been her first date and that might very well have been her first kiss two weeks ago; and he had gone and made an ass off himself, even though he was seven years older than her and should have reacted more calmly._

_And the worst thing was that he wasn't even sure he didn't like her. She was the person he spent most of his free time with when she wasn't in Hogwarts, he was always disappointed when she wasn't around for a minor family gathering and he constantly worried about her clumsiness landing her in hospital. It was also true that he thought she was beautiful – he was sure everybody thought she was beautiful. Ian Wood sure thought she was beautiful. Damn, where was this anger coming from? It didn't feel like brotherly protectiveness, like that one time he had rounded up a guy who had hurt Dominique's feelings._

_Hell, maybe he did like her but that didn't give her the right to kiss and confuse him and then go out on a date with some son of a bludger._

"_Why did you go out on a date with Ian Wood?"_

_She seemed confused, "You said I should."_

_Damn, he had, hadn't he? He felt like pulling out his hair in frustration._

"_Oh."_

"_What?" he asked warily. Why was she smiling now? Was the girl schizophrenic?_

"_You do like me!" she accused._

"_What?" he replied lamely._

"_You do like me, you just feel like a dirty old man because I'm seventeen and you saw me grow up." She was nearly laughing by now and he felt his face heat up for various reasons – the notion of him as a "dirty old man" and the fact that a seventeen-year-old girl was putting him in his spot like this. But she had always been able to do just that._

_When he didn't say anything in return her face fell again._

"_Should I just go back to my date then?"_

"_No!"_

oOo

Teddy smiled as he remembered that day. She had jumped right into his arms then and peppered kisses all over his face. He still thought it was weird how life played out sometimes. One moment he had been unbelievably confused as to how he felt about the girl and just a few days later he had already felt like he would never be able to let her go again, which was precisely why he had decided to ask her to marry him eventually.

oOo

"_I really need to get some work done today," she said in a weak voice, which made him laugh silently against her stomach. She was lying on her back in their bed and fingers were twisted in his turquoise hair. He still changed it to brown when he went to the hospital, but he always kept it turquoise when they were at home or went out, because he knew she liked it that way._

"_I'm not stopping you," he mumbled against her skin, "It's your first book, it's important. You really should get up."_

_His actions stood in stark contrast to his words, however. He pulled her even closer to him and kept his hands on her waist while he moved his head up a bit and nuzzled her breasts._

_She was 20 now and had moved in with him just a few months ago. Waking up to her each morning still made him incredibly happy and he didn't think he would ever get used to it. At first he had been bemused to realize that she had turned him into quite a sap during their now three year long relationship, especially considering the fact that she wasn't one for big romantic gestures and he constantly felt like showering her in rose petals and bad poetry. He was thankfully able to refrain himself though and had come up with something else he could do for her without disgusting her with a whole lot of schmaltz._

"_You're not making it any easier," she whispered and he let her pull him up so that she could kiss him. They were lost in each other for a few minutes, stroking and tasting, and before he was fully aware of what he was doing, he was pushing her legs apart, intend on climbing atop of her. But she swatted him away at the last minute and had to giggle when he fake collapsed next to her with a heart-wrenching sigh._

"_I'm getting dressed now," she declared and he felt like saying no even though he was all in favour of her getting into the shower for a number of reasons._

"_You shouldn't spend your whole free day in bed again as well," she said before disappearing into the adjoining bathroom with an enticing swing to her hips. He flopped onto his back and waited for the inevitable to happen. He was growing more and more nervous the longer he could hear the shower running but he knew she liked to relax under the spray for a bit every morning and forced himself to relax. About ten minutes later the water was shut off and he imagined her getting out of the shower and grabbing a towel. He knew she had finally stepped in front of the mirror when he heard her scream. _

_What followed was an almost eerie silence and he was about to get out of bed himself when the bathroom door was thrown open once more. She was still somewhat wet from the shower and had her towel pressed loosely to her chest. He was shocked to see her cry and immediately went to take her into his arms._

"_I'm sorry," he said immediately, thinking he might have gone too far or asked too soon._

_She pushed him away and swatted his chest, giving him a quivering smile._

"_Yes," she said, "Of course, you dork."_

_He could feel a big grin spread across his face and caught himself thinking that she had never been more beautiful than at this moment – her long hair wet and clinging to her shoulders, her eyes already turning red from crying and the words MARRY ME scribbled across her forehead in bright blue letters._

_He swooped her up in his arms and kissed all over her face much like she had done that day in Hogsmeade three years ago._

"_Please tell me this will go away again," she said between giggles._

_He stopped kissing her and said, "Yeah. It's actually the same spell Louis used on your hair when you were 12. I asked him what it was."_

_She shook her head at him and he was sure she would have been at least a bit angry if he hadn't just asked to marry her. So, instead of scolding him, she looked at him coyly and asked:_

"_Where's my ring?"_

oOo

The bedroom door opened and Teddy sat up on the bed. His wife looked terrible and he knew that when even he thought so, it was saying something. It looked like she had been crying again and he opened his arms to her.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed as she let herself fall into them. "I was really trying not to be sad today. I have to get used to it, or else I will have gone crazy five years from now."

He simply held her closer and pressed a kiss to her temple. He knew she simply needed someone to listen right now.

"And I know everybody keeps telling me I'm only 24, but we've been trying for over two years. I just hate that nobody can tell us what's wrong or what we could do. I feel so hopeless." She stopped talking and pressed closer to him, hiding her face against his neck.

"I just want a baby."

She was crying harder now and he could feel his throat closing up. She had started to lose hope about a year ago. All her cousins and their friends were procreating like crazy and there was no escaping the harsh reality that while she was practically surrounded by babies and children, they weren't hers. They had first gone to a healer specializing in magical fertility treatment about the same time she had started to cry after every family gathering or party with little children around. They had in fact seen more than just that one healer – the last of them being a despicable old quack who had suggested to Teddy ("strictly between colleagues") that maybe the two of them "just didn't fit that way". It had taken all of his willpower to not knock the old man down on the spot. They had even talked about seeing some Muggle doctors and even though he was willing to try, he didn't think that she really believed in their methods either. At first it hadn't bothered him. They had started trying for a baby, because he knew that was what she wanted and he wanted to give her everything she could possibly desire. When it hadn't worked at first, he hadn't thought much of it. He was a healer after all and even though he didn't specialize in these kinds of things, he knew that they could take time. As far as he was concerned all that meant was more practice time and he was all for that. But then months had passed and then a year and she had grown sadder every time a test told her she wasn't pregnant again. And then he had started to want a child for more selfish reasons than just making her happy. He was 31 now after all and he guessed it was normal for him to want children. He wanted to see her with a baby in her arms and he wanted to know that that was his family and that they would always be connected through that child. A tangible proof of their love for one another.

She was half lying in his lap now and he pressed another kiss to her forehead. She was still wearing her green dress and it was bunched up around her thighs. He was absentmindedly stroking her back, pondering what he could say. He had been thinking about another method to start a family but hat been hesitant about mentioning it to her, lest she thought he was giving up. He actually thought she might have thought about it as well but hadn't said anything for the very same reason.

"We could adopt."

She sat up a bit and looked at him with teary eyes. "I wanted to give you a baby. I wanted something that is part you."

He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. The fact that she wanted this for him as much as she wanted it for herself made it hurt even more.

"We can adopt," he repeated, "You're going to be the best mother. Your heart is so fucking big and you love so much, you… I'm going to make you happy again, I promise you. We'll have a child and I'll do anything for the two of you." He was horrified when he felt a tear run down his own cheek but he was unable to stop it. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, slinging her arms around his shoulders.

"I love you and you already make me happy. I never want you to think you're not all I need. But I feel…"

"I know," he said hoarsely.

He couldn't tell how much longer they sat like that but when they finally pulled apart again, she wiped at her eyes and gave him a tentative smile.

"We can adopt," she repeated his earlier words, "And we will love that child and you can play Quidditch with him or her. But we're not letting Louis near it."

That made him grin and he couldn't help but pull her to him again, kissing her with all his heart.

What followed wasn't always easy. She had to shed more tears during the following years – and, if he was being honest, so did he. They held each other during those difficult times, whispering, promising love and a future where they would be able to extend their little family.

Exactly three years after the day of Tucana Hermione Malfoy's christening they were finally able to pick up their son Lynden Remus Lupin at a wizarding orphanage; and Teddy felt like things were slowly falling back into place. He had a beautiful, loving wife and an amazing son and life was much better than he could ever have imagined.

oOo

Yadda yadda: I had kind of a hard time deciding on how to "resolve" their problem within a one shot fic but then I decided that wasn't really what I wanted to do anyway. I wanted to show snippets of their life together and a bit of what happened on that day. A glimpse into their lives. I know people who suffer from not being able to conceive children, so I'm aware that it's not something you just get over quickly or maybe ever. So I decided to show what I felt I could show within a one shot fic.

But I'm a sucker for happy endings so of course they eventually got one.

Oh yeah, I hope you caught the tiiiiiny nod to all Dramione fans. United we stand! :D


End file.
